Local News in Brief : Santa Ana : Kraft Juror Sick, Is Replaced by Alternate

After a brief pause to replace a juror who fell ill, the Randy Steven Kraft murder trial resumed Tuesday to hear evidence on the killing of Ronnie Gene Wiebe, 20, who was found strangled to death July 30, 1973, near the San Diego Freeway in Seal Beach.

Prosecuting attorney Bryan F. Brown called expert witnesses to testify on when and how Wiebe died. Brown also showed the jury photographs of Wiebe’s body as it lay sprawled in the foliage along the 7th Street on-ramp, where Kraft allegedly dumped it.

The photographs, which were enlarged on a screen, showed that Wiebe’s belt was missing from his pants and that he had a dark-brown welt on his neck.

Kraft, 43, is charged with killing 16 young men in an 11-year crime spree in Orange County. Prosecutors say they will present evidence on 21 more killings if Kraft is convicted and the jury is asked to sentence him to death.

He was arrested May 14, 1983, when two California Highway Patrol officers stopped him for a traffic violation and found a dead Marine in his front passenger seat. The Marine had been strangled with his own belt.